No citizens spoke—for or against--at a public hearing last week on the town’s outline of an overlay district plan developed for the business districts of Main Street and Broad Street and the route that connects the two.

The conceptual plan had earlier won approval from the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Revitalization Association.

With no opposition voiced at the hearing, the town board approved the plan in concept and returned it to the town’s planning department to be worked into the town’s land use plan. It will provide a set of guidelines for the way in which the town’s leaders would like to see development take place.

The overlay plan, put together by JDavis Architects, would blend some residential use and office and institutional development into the downtown centers and along the Highway 401 corridor between the two. It also proposes numerous appearance guidelines that would apply to all new buildings and those old ones being renovated.

The conceptual plan suggests some two-story, and possibly some three story buildings along the route between the two business districts, possibly with retail use on the first level and offices and/or residential use in the upper floors.

Some ordinance changes would likely be required to put the plan into effect. Town commissioners would have to take action at that point.